


Oh Child of Mine

by Shi_Toyu



Category: Iron Man (Comics), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Human, Angst, BAMF Tony Stark, Emotional Hurt, Gen, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Howard Stark's Bad Parenting, Hurt Tony Stark, Kid Tony Stark, Kidnapped Tony Stark, Kidnapping, Maria Stark's A+ Parenting, Maria Stark's Bad Parenting, Pre-Canon, Protective Gamora (Marvel), Thanos is a Bad Dude, Thanos' A+ parenting, Tony Angst, Tony Being Tony, Tony Feels, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Has Issues, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-02
Updated: 2018-05-02
Packaged: 2019-05-01 07:20:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14515278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shi_Toyu/pseuds/Shi_Toyu
Summary: CONTAINS NO SPOILERS FOR INFINITY WARTony accompanies his mother to his first science fair competition.





	Oh Child of Mine

**Author's Note:**

> BTW, Thanos and Gamora are both human in this universe, or at least they appear to be.

Tony kept one hand fisted in the loose fabric of his mother’s skirt as he glanced around the convention center. His circuit board had made it to the Nationals for the science fair and it was openly acknowledged he’d be going to the international competition, too. Everyone seemed astounded by his accomplishment, but he was already _three_. Of course he could build and program a circuit board. Next time he’d do better, too, so maybe his father would give more than a terse acknowledgment and congratulations.

In fact, Tony would much rather be back at the mansion, working on his next project, than here. He didn’t like crowds much, but his mother had said it was important for them to show up and represent the Stark name. She’d talked about branding and constructing an image for him for the media, but Tony hadn’t really understood all that. Now she was chatting with a couple of the competition’s officials and Tony was left feeling like he was at one of his parents’ fancy parties, like he could just melt into the background and no one would notice.

He squirmed a bit, but quickly put a stop to the movement. His father didn’t like it when he squirmed. Tony glanced up at his mother, wishing he could ask to be picked up and carried, but his parents hadn’t allowed that for a long time. He was a big boy now. He didn’t need to be carried. (Sometimes, though, he still _wanted_ to be. Was that so bad?) To stave of his fidgeting, Tony tried to turn his attention toward watching the competition’s other participants.

There were projects of all kinds, separated in categories and age-ranges. Tony was the youngest competitor in attendance and he’d already had to do several sit downs with the judges to talk about how he’d completed the project and answer questions. Tony didn’t understand why they couldn’t just look at the project and see how it was done, or why they seemed so focused on finding out how much his father had helped him. (His father hadn’t. Tony was a big boy, he needed to be able to figure this stuff out on his own. He couldn’t come running for answers forever.) How could they be the judges if they didn’t even understand how a circuit board worked?

A little girl, older than him by several years, caught him looking and waved, smiling. She had long, black hair pulled into two braids and olive-tanned skin. Tony stared at her for a moment before tentatively waving back. Did he know her? Was he supposed to? Why else would she smile and wave at him? She motioned for him to come over.

Tony glanced up at his mother, but she was still talking to the men from the competition. It was rude to interrupt adults when they were talking, especially if it might have anything to do with business. Tony had never quite been able to get a handle on what did and didn’t have to do with business, so he usually just played it safe by not interrupting at all. Besides, the girl wasn’t too far away. He could keep an eye on his mother in case he needed to return to her side. If he _did_ know the girl, his father would surely scold him for being rude and not going over.

Reluctantly, he freed his mother’s skirt from the death grip he’d had on it and crossed over to where the girl was standing. She was so much bigger than him! At least twice his height. He held his hand out for her to shake and she took it, giggling.

“Hello,” he greeted politely.

“Hi,” she said, smiling still. “You’re Tony Stark, right?”

Oh. So, he didn’t know her. He could have stayed with his mother after all. He was in the conversation now, though, and couldn’t just walk away. He glanced back over his shoulder at his mother before nodding the affirmative. The girl’s smile grew.

“I’m Gamora,” she introduced herself. “I saw your project. You must be super smart!”

She said it in the same tone most people used to talk to him, even when they were talking about how smart he was. It was a tone he’d also seen used on dogs. ‘Aren’t you so smart? Yes, you are! Yes, you are!’ He frowned and dropped his eyes to the floor, even though he knew he wasn’t supposed to do that. He wanted to go back to his mother.

“Thank you,” he mumbled.

“Hey, what’s the matter?”

The girl, Gamora, squatted down to his level, looking concerned. Tony glanced back at his mother again, but she was still talking. She was always talking to someone important.

“Nothing,” Tony informed her.

Her smile was gone now, and Tony tangled his hands in the hem of his suit jacket. He didn’t like wearing suits, but his parents always said appearance was important.

“It’s okay,” she soothed him, reaching out to place a hand on his arm. Tony stared at it, he wasn’t used to being touched, especially not by strangers. “I’m sorry if I scared you. I really meant it. You’re three, right? I’m eight and I don’t think I could build a circuit board. I wouldn’t even know where to start!”

Tony looked up at her again, surprised.

“Eight is really old not to know how to build a circuit board.”

She giggled again, and the smile was back. She wasn’t even using the dog tone anymore. Tony felt himself relaxing a bit and gave her a small smile in return.

“Maybe you could teach me,” she suggested, and Tony lit up at the idea.

Nobody had ever asked him to teach _them_ something before.

“I could do that!” he exclaimed, only to clap his hands over his mouth and glance around quickly. He wasn’t supposed to be so loud.

“It’s okay to be excited,” Gamora told him. “My Daddy says it’s good to get excited over things. It means you have something to look forward to.”

“Is your Daddy here?” Tony asked, curious.

Maybe she had come by herself. Eight was practically grown up! She was nodding, though, and pointed over her shoulder toward the other side of the big convention room.

“He’s over there, near my project. Do you want to meet him?”

Tony hesitated, glancing back at his mother again. He wasn’t supposed to wander off, but whenever his father asked if he wanted to meet someone, ‘no’ wasn’t an acceptable answer.

“I’ll have to be right back,” he told her. “My mother will miss me.”

Gamora straightened up and held out a hand for him to take, smiling wide.

“Don’t worry. You’ll be in good hands.”

.

When Tony woke up, his head was pounding like it had that time he’d fallen down the stairs and gotten a concussion. He whined and squeezed his eyes shut tightly to try and block out the pain. His mouth tasted like it’d been stuffed full of cotton balls soaked in ethanol. Gross. Someone nearby chuckled and a large, warm hand settled in his hair, stroking it softly.

“It’s alright,” the voice, a man’s, comforted. “Shhh… I know it hurts, but it’ll go away. Just hold still.”

The man’s voice was deep and warm like his hand. He sounded friendly. Tony figured it was probably a good idea to do what he said. Besides, he was an adult. Tony was supposed to listen to adults. Instead, he just squinted his eyes open a bit, grateful to discover that the lights were dim. He was laying on a leather couch, it seemed, with the man sitting at his head. All he could see were his massive, jean-clad thighs. He had to be huge! Even bigger than his father’s bodyguards!

“What happened?” he asked quietly, voice sounding rough even to his own ears. “Did I fall again?”

The hand on his hair paused a moment before resuming its stroking. That was nice. Tony liked the stroking. Not even Jarvis had stroked his hair like this.

“No,” the man told him. “Do you fall often?”

Tony shrugged.

“Sometimes I don’t pay attention to what’s going on around me very well,” he admitted. “My father says I shouldn’t be so clumsy.”

The man hummed.

“Well, I’m sure we can fix that,” he said kindly. “Being clumsy isn’t the same as not paying attention. You just need to learn to be a bit more careful, is all.”

Tony didn’t respond to that. He was comfortable, and the man seemed very nice, but something just felt weird. If he’d been hurt, why wasn’t he in a hospital? Where were his parents? Or Jarvis?

“Where are we?” he asked, after a few moments of silence, a sliver of his trepidation slipping into his tone.

The hand on his hair lifted as the man reached over to adjust the blanket covering Tony’s small form.

“Don’t be afraid, little one,” he comforted. “We’re home now.”

Tony frowned. He didn’t recognize this room, and he was very sure his mother wouldn’t own this couch. She’d sworn off leather last season. His father hadn’t been happy about it.

“Your home?” he questioned. That had to be it.

“And Gamora’s,” he acknowledged. “And yours now, too.”

Tony shot up, immediately regretting it as the world spun dizzily and a wave of nausea crashed over him.

“W-What?”

The man’s face appeared before him, large hands reaching out to steady him. He was bald, like Uncle Obie, but his chin was clean shaven.

“Easy, there. I told you not to move.”

Tony trembled under his touch, though it was no less kind.

“Did you kidnap me?” he asked. His father had warned him about those. “Do you want something from my father?”

The man just gave him a fond smile.

“I already have everything I want right here,” he said.

It didn’t make Tony feel any better.

“When can I go home?”

The man sighed, but not angrily like his father did when Tony asked a question he thought he should already know the answer to.

“I know this is hard to understand,” the man told him, “but you _are_ home. You’ll learn to accept that eventually.”

Tony’s eyes watered and he tried to blink it away, his father always got upset when he cried.

“Wh-who are you?” he choked out through his tears.

The man made a sympathetic noise and pulled him against a strong chest in a hug.

“Oh, my poor baby boy,” he crooned. “I know it’s hard, I know. You are strong, though.” He shushed Tony’s sobs for a several long minutes before finally answering his question. “I am Thanos, but you will call me Daddy.”


End file.
